La Mère Catherine — Restaurant in Paris

You will not regret the decision to come here. Let me explain:

We dined with the pass mind you! When we came the restaurant was absolutely full. They told us we must dine outside. My father in law was too cold to stay outside, it was quite an argument because we paid for it already! The host saw us and we told him the embarrassing situation. He went to the neighboring restaurant (owned by the same owner) to seat us, to which they couldn’t. My father in law surrendered thankfully.

The manager came, he looked at us seriously, and then asked us of our culture. We shared the same culture and he could tell!

Regardless they were so professional, courteous and accommodating in however they could have been.

Let’s get to the food, the essential factor.

Food: For appetizer we had 1 escargots, and 3 of les œufs mayonnaise.

I had œufs. They were made for true love. The texture of creaminess and layers of the flavor all came together like a ballet. A ballet that could make a hater of the ballet fall in love. It had truffle, and the salad mixed in had just the right hint of balsamic vinegar to lift the flavor of the truffle which I confused for some in spicy wasabi substitute but no. It was so delicious it made start writing the review to give it 5 stars in everything already.

But that’s just the beginning.

I asked Michael the manager which is his preferred entree. He said the Beef. So three of us did while one of us had the Chicken and Fries.

We understood why the restaurant had every seat filled. The beef’s tenderness was just right like the shoe on Cinderella’s foot. The sauce it was glazed in melted in your mouth like a fresh warm blanket with a tang that was truly alive. And the potatoes. Again, the texture. I wish I could explain it better but it just felt like they were given the precise time and temperature mix up to remind you that cooking truly is a science as well as it is an art. They brought bread both for the appetizer and for the entree which of course have not missed once since we have been in France. We used it to complement every centimeter of sauce left in that plate. The carrots and mushrooms couldn’t be forgotten either as it was a symphony.

The chicken was perfectly cooked, of course, fall off the bone. Glazed with a sauce that was like a peanut sauce and it really was so fancy. I tried just a bit of it, and the fries with it did not miss.

You think I’m being extra? Overdramatic? Look at the picture of the beef and potatoes. Michael had places mine on the table for me. He carefully adjusted the plate so that the text on the plate would face me correctly. So no I am not being ridiculous. Everything here was ridiculously good. The epitome of what is fine dining. The taste struck that moment to me in ratatouille where the food critic goes back to his childhood. I’m not kidding.

Now the dessert. The. Crème Brûlée, was like no other. The top crust, standard deliciousness, can’t change how that goes. The crème, was almost curated? How did they do it? Almost like they pre toasted the milk? They literally gave the crème layers to its richness. The slight chill of it reminded me I’m not in the US.

Michael talked with us for quite a while through it all. This place is no joke. The oldest operating restaurant in Place du Tertre. Birth place of the word Bistro, and so much more rich history. Frequented by many popular public figures, and truly, a part of my history for my family we will not forget. Thank you Michael and thank you to your staff, your chefs really deserve their...

Terrible service and loooooong waiting time!!! They are very nice to you when they try to make you to eat there. But when you sit down then the waitress turn on a bad service. We was not that hungry so we wanted to share a dinner, but it looks that the waitress was very dispointing on that. We had a male waitress and he was rude and not that interesting to give a good service. After we ordred our food he throw our plate on the table, did not put it nicely on tabel.. And the tabel next to us also complaining about their service. That they was very slow and did not asked they want dessert. The waitress excused with it was so much to do. We looked around and it was alot of empty tables, so not that busy. We got our food after a while. But we wanted to have some bread to our food and the waitress did not want to have eye contact with us so we had to ask another waitress. After we finished we wanted for a dessert. Our waitress pretend to be so busy so we waited for 15 minutes for having a menu for dessert. Or we asked after the menu but again, we was need to ask another waitress. And again it took another 15 minutes to ordre it. We ordred a crème brulee. It took 25 minutes to make one and when we got it was served very cold. We complained to the waitress and he was not interested to apologize for it or do something with it. And he only asked you want to buy or not. We asked for some discounts but he was not interested to give us that. Or he pretend he did not heard that and when he talk to us he did not had eye contact with us. We paided fullprice and we did not got any apology for the waiting time or the cold crème brulee. And he did not wish us a good evening or said thank you to us. This man he had a rude attitude and was not polite to us or the other guess next to us. Very dispointed on service and food. And we felt we wasted our time and money on this restaurant. If you see this restaurant half full of guests, don't go there.. They are too busy and you probably need to wait alot. It takes faster to eat up the food then waiting for the menu, ordre it and got it served. Alot of them it was 6 waitress that was just standing and talking to each other or try to get people...

Where do I start…. We’ll say it wasn’t all bad. There was a server whose job it was to beckon tourists inside. He was lovely. However he was an outlier. The rest of the waitresses were unbelievably unfriendly. Snappy and prone to scowling while making eye contact for no particular reason. It was not a particularly busy day so I’m unsure why the single croissant and americano I ordered took so long to come out. People who arrived later were served first for some reason? Montmartre in itself is pretty but very boring compared to the rest of Paris and filled with tourist traps, overpriced food, and of course tourists. This was in fact one of those tourist trap places that tries to play off as authentic- but whose sole purpose is to market off the clueless tourists that traipse down the street. Unfortunately I happened to fall into that trap. The food was super mediocre and nothing special. The croissant was flat and oddly shaped, it looked and tasted like something you could find in the Lidl bakery. I also waited a ridiculous amount of time for the bill. It seems none of the servers come outside and you have to go collect them so they will follow you outside in to get a chance to pay. Again it was not busy whatsoever so I’m unsure where all the servers were. I want to come back to the subject of the waitress that was unbelievably rude. There was no need for the attitude I received with absolutely zero provocation, and it was obvious my existence seemed to offend them. I tried to order a cappuccino too with my petite dejeuner but it wasn’t included and was more expensive. Very disappointing and not worth it. There are way nicer restaurants and cafes in Paris that are much more authentic. If possible, avoid Montmartre at all costs- it’s...